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Saturday, October 26, 2013

Finding Eden

By Camilla Beavers

Blurb: Eden dreamed. She dreamed of a man, one with liquid gold eyes. But when she meets Sahariel for the first time she can't help but wonder if she's going crazy. People can see him, but she can't see any colors swirl around him, not like they do with other people. Feeling irrevocably tied to him, she can't figure him out. Even with her own eccentricities, Eden thought she had finally become somewhat normal, but once he stepped into her life, everything was changed.

Genres: Young Adult, Fantasy, Romance

Published: September 28, 2012

Series: N/A

My Rating: 2 stars

Finding Eden was a book that 1) sounded interesting and 2) was free, so I snagged it. It’s been sitting on my kindle for a while, but I finally got to it. And, I was left disappointed.

First and foremost, the plot was very convoluted. Truly, this wouldn’t have been so bad if the book had been longer, but because of the shortness, Finding Eden ended up jumping from one thing to another. First, Eden is a loser who nobody talks to because she sees emotions. Then, she’s an elf. And then, she’s the elf queen. And then, she’s pregnant.

Second, the friends we were introduced to at the beginning of the story had basically no point whatsoever. They’re there for the beginning, and then Eden goes off to another world and we don’t see them again until the epilogue.

Speaking of the epilogue, it goes at the end, not the beginning. The prologue is before the real story starts, not after it ends. They were mixed up in this book, which annoyed me a lot.

Also, if Eden apparently says stupid/weird stuff, then make her say stupid/weird stuff; don’t just say she does and then let her be perfectly normal.

Obviously, Finding Eden wasn’t my favorite. So why am I giving this two stars instead of one? Well, I didn’t hate it. There were some really good <i>ideas</i>, they just weren’t executed very well. Eden being able to see emotions was cool, it just wasn’t the main focus of the story like it really should have been.

This book was lacking for me; maybe with some editing the story could be improved upon, but I don’t like it very much in its current state.

Thursday, October 24, 2013

My Own Mr. Darcy

By Karey White

Summary: After being dragged to
the 2005 movie Pride and Prejudice by her mother, sixteen-year-old
Elizabeth’s life changes when Matthew Macfadyen’s Mr. Darcy appears on
the screen. Lizzie falls hard and makes a promise to herself that she
will settle for nothing less than her own Mr. Darcy. This ill-advised
pledge threatens to ruin any chance of finding true love. During the six
intervening years, she has refused to give any interested suitors a
chance. They weren’t Mr. Darcy enough. Coerced by her roommate,
Elizabeth agrees to give the next interested guy ten dates before she
dumps him. That guy is Chad, a kind and thoughtful science teacher and
swim coach. While she’s dating Chad, her dream comes true in the form of
a wealthy bookstore owner named Matt Dawson, who looks and acts like
her Mr. Darcy. Of course she has to follow her dream. But as Elizabeth
simultaneously dates a regular guy and the dazzling Mr. Dawson, she’s
forced to re-evaluate what it was she loved about Mr. Darcy in the first
place.

Genres: Adult, Romance, Realistic Fiction

Published: July 15, 2013

Series: N/A

My Rating: 4 stars

It is so hard to find well-written romances. That is why I don’t read a lot of them. However, I simply knew I had to try My Own Mr. Darcy, because so many of the reviewers I follow had read it, and they all adored it! Obviously,
I was not disappointed at all. The story started out strong, and it
finished strong. I thoroughly enjoyed reading every moment of it!

Why? A lot of it has to do with the characters!

Matt:
I have to admit, I liked Matt, in spite of all his flaws, and I
wouldn’t have been too torn up if Elizabeth chose him, even though it
was obvious that she was going to end up with Chad. Sure, he’s selfish
and he’s snobby, but because of that you could tell that he really liked
Elizabeth, because he was able to overcome a lot of that for her. No,
he was nowhere near as sweet as Chad, but he tried (most of the time).
And that’s what I liked about him.

Chad: Like I said before, he
was so sweet! He could be a bit of the stereotypical ‘good boy’
sometimes, (The good boy and the bad boy; the two most overused
stereotypes in romance) but he had unique qualities as well. At first I
wasn’t liking him as much as Chad, and then he and Elizabeth watched Pride and Prejudice, and, well, my heart kind of melted.

Elizabeth:
Loved her! I could relate to her, and that’s what made me like her.
When I was younger, I had a huge crush on my book boyfriend; not Mr.
Darcy, but Peter Pan. They aren’t exactly similar characters, but I
could relate! And I loved how she wasn’t afraid to stand up for what she
believed in. When she told off the pompous author, I started to smile.

Meg:
Ugh. The author really succeeded in making an unlikeable character. I
couldn’t STAND her. I shan’t dwell on her anymore, though.

The ending was so adorable. It was a great way to finish a great story.I simply loved this book, and this is coming from one picky romance reader! I will most likely read more by this author.